UC staff monitor the Bluefern IBM supercomputer Our society relies in many ways on software or software-based systems, for example in transportation, entertainment, telecommunications, government, business, health, avionics, and many other areas. Very often software systems have a high degree of complexity, often consisting of millions of lines of code produced by large teams of engineers or programmers. We critically depend on their timely and cost-effective completion, and on their reliable and efficient operation. To meet all these targets, a disciplined and well-founded approach to the design, creation and operation of software (or software-based systems) under real-world constraints (economical, ethical, technical, legal) is needed.

There is a strong demand for Software Engineering graduates; New Zealand employers have been complaining that they have to look overseas to find sufficiently qualified candidates who combine technical expertise with good communication skills and teamwork ability. Software engineering is a widely applicable discipline and graduates are not only needed in software production companies, but also in many companies whose products involve significant amounts of software.